Lateral Winds
by kagstar
Summary: An original character story. Diane's life had just made a drastic turn, and now she's just trying to hold onto whatever normalcy she can. Unfortunately, fate had other plans.


**Chapter 1**

No one realises at seemingly insignificant moments in their life seems to carve a course that couldn't have been predicted in their wildest dreams. At least that's how Diane felt her life had gone after visiting her father at work one night after school. In the time before that, she truly felt that she could determine her own life's journey. Now, she wasn't so sure.

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The school was alive with chatter from students of all grades as they wandered the halls of Casper High, conversing with their fellow students or just merely complaining to thin air of the prospect of a new school week. A familiar sight to these students was an overweight, middle aged, balding teacher attempting to fit into the complex social classes of modern teens reading out from what appeared to be a worn and proven ineffective book entitled 'How to be hip'. Mr Lancer was no stranger to the modern teen. The English teacher was once again trying to use "hip lingo" to create a stronger report, not realising that in the progress he was strengthening his image to the students as the weird teacher. However, one student's image of said teacher was not tarnished by his rather pathetic popularity attempt. She smiled brightly to him as she passed him in the hall on her way to her locker.  
"Good morning, Mr Lancer."

Diane Phillips was never the kind to get swept up with the popular trends or give into peer pressure. Even now, the sophomore had an air of grace and individuality that came with her unique views and self confidence. No, Diane was not someone to be caught up in her classmate's views and ideals, even in the case of Casper High's English teacher. Mr Lancer admired the young woman for these traits and returned her smile.

"Good morning Miss Phillips. I hope you've remembered your essay is due today."

"I put it on your desk this morning, Mr. Lancer."

Mr Lancer of course knew this. Diane was not the type to turn in things late. Especially for English class. The girl had already been put up a year in the subject and was currently in Lancer's Junior class.

"I could expect nothing less from my best student."

Diane's mumble smile made student's witnessing the exchange scoff and whisper among themselves, muttering things along the lines of 'teacher's pet' and 'brown nose'. Diane either didn't hear or chose to ignore this.

"Well, I'd best be off. Someone's got to keep this school running. Later, G."

"Keep it real, Mr. L!" Diane laughed as her favourite teacher walked down past her to his classroom. She continued on to her locker. Reaching it she opened her locker. To anyone watching carefully, it would have appeared that her hand would have disappeared for a moment before reappearing after pulling her locker open. One person, however did notice.

"You'd better be careful about doing that at school. Someone might see." Diane didn't bother turning to the source of the voice, merely poking her tongue out her mouth and lifting her bag up and emptying its contents in to her locker.

"No one's watching. Besides I doubt anyone here has the attention span nor the mental competency to actually comprehend what was happening."

"You talk big for someone who wants to keep it a secret." Diane sighed and turned to her best friend, a pretty girl of her own age with long dark hair and tanned skin. "Look it's not like I'm doing it all the time. Beside's it saves more time than actually opening my locker. Yasmin raised an eyebrow at her friend and neighbour.

"You're gonna get caught at this rate," Yasmin sang, adjusting the books held in one hand to the other so to rest her right hand on her hip. "I'm pretty sure I recall you being the one who wanted to keep all this a secret."

Diane didn't respond. Instead she focused on grabbing her books for next class and rearranging the contents of her now messy locker. Yasmin knew she touched a nerve and sighed softly. She rested her hand on Diane's shoulder.

"Look, whatever happened, happened. Nothing can be done about it right?"

Diane smiled up at her friend, pushing her locker shut. She was about to speak when another familiar, albeit louder voice interrupted her.

"Diane! Sis! Hey!"

Both girls sighed in unison as a boy their age with dark messy hair kept under a backwards facing hat, wearing a slightly-too-big green hooded jumper ran over to them from the other side of the hallway. He was carrying a newspaper in one hand, waving it around like a flag, visibility excited. A large grin stretched across his face as he reached them.

"I thought you said you ditched him."

"He must have followed me from home."

Scott glared at his sister and friend. "Har har har. Very funny. You two should do stand up."

Diane and Yasmin exchanged a smile before laughing.  
"Sorry bro. Couldn't help it."

"That's what you always say."

The Edward's twins were as different as day and night. Yasmin, the elder, was Diane's best friend ever since she moved to Amity Park a few years previous. She was girly, flirty and popular. She was also a cheerleader. It was a miracle the two had become such fast friends. Scott was weird, obsessed with the paranormal and just a little on the socially awkward side. But interestingly the two siblings hung out more often than what people would guess. The two were practically inseparable during their childhood and still continued to hang out. Though now they did have their own friends. They were half Persian and half African American, which gave them both an exotic and attractive look about them. Yasmin was the only one to use her looks to her advantage though.

Diane glanced at the paper as the two talked and stiffened at the title of the front page article; "MYSTERIOUS NEW GHOST HITS AMITY PARK". Below was a crude, black and white photo of a thin figure with light hair done up in a high ponytail. Due to the photo's position, shadows were cast over the individual in the photo, causing their features to be undistinguishable. But you could tell from the photo that the person, or whatever, had glowing hands. They clearly did not know that there was a photo being taken of them as their eyes were fixed on something in the distance. Scott noticed Diane staring and held up the newspaper in front of him.

"Pretty cool, right?"

Diane turned her attention back to her friend and nodded to the article.

"What's that about?"

Scott looked like someone had just killed one of his loved ones. His mouth hung open like a fish.

"What's it- what's it about? Good grief girl. Where have you been the last few weeks?"  
Diane shrugged. "Earth."

Scott gave her a dry look. "Well if you had been on earth, you'd have heard of this new ghost that's been going around at night. They say that it's been saving people from muggers and fires and things like that before disappearing without a trace."

Yasmin grabbed the newspaper off her brother and read the first few paragraphs quickly. She glanced up at Diane, whose face remained deadpanned. Diane shrugged again. "Sounds like another copycat to me."

Scott shook his head vigorously and grabbed the paper back, earning a glare from his twin. He pointed at the photo a few times.

"No, no. Look! Look at their hands! This is the real deal."

"Careful Yasmin. I think your brother's gonna be beamed back up soon," Diane laughed leaning against her locker.

"If only, my friend. If only. But you're both missing the big picture! There's a ghost in Amity Park."

"Along with, hmmm…" Diane counted up to 10 on her fingers before starting again, "dozens of other ghosts."

"I can't believe you're not excited about this!"

"Excited about what? Another ghost saving people? Like we haven't seen that before. I mean, how original." Diane waved her free hand up and down, offhanded.

Scott realised an exasperated breath, blowing his bangs out of his eyes. "Whatever, girlfriend. You'll see. I'm gonna dig and find something about this new ghost."

"Okay, we'll see how that goes for you."

Yasmin elbowed Diane softly, giving her a strained look. "We'd better get to class huh, Diane?"

"Yeah, probably should."Diane held her books to her chest and turned on her heel, waving a hand to him as Yasmin followed promising to her brother to see him at lunch at their usual spot on the bleachers. Yasmin caught up with Diane as they both rounded a corner. She stopped Diane by pulling on her arm.

"Diane. What do you think you're _doing?_"  
Diane gave her an innocent look. "Walking to class?"

Yasmin wasn't fooled. "You know exactly what I'm talking about missy! You're the one who wanted to keep it a big _secret_," she put emphasis on the word secret, "and you're going out at night? What's up with that?"

Diane shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm going to class. I'll see you later, kay?"

"It's a bad idea," Yasmin called after her.

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Diane knew it was a bad idea. Duh, she was the one who said it was in the first place! But now, she wasn't so sure. Diane thought back to a night a few weeks back, which set her life on a completely different course.

Diane was the only daughter of a ghost researcher, a profession that had only been taken on seriously in the last few years due to the extreme paranormal activities and encounters in the previous years that had lead the world to believe in the existence of not only ghosts but also over other plains of existence. William 'Bill' Phillips was a biology scientist from Washington when he got a call from a government facility calling themselves the Guys in White. The job was to research ghost's biology and to assist in the development of new technology from this new information. The job required a move, which Bill had to spend many sleepless nights deliberating over since the move also affected his daughter, who was nearing the end of middle school. However, the pay was good, they'd pay for housing , education for Diane and Bill would then be put in charge of a team at the facility Axiom Lab's, located in the small town of Amity Park. This town had once been just a small blimp on the government radar. Now, the town was the centre of all paranormal activity research in the northern hemisphere and remains as the most haunted city in America. If you were looking for ghosts, you'd have to go to Amity Park. While the town is mostly occupied by peaceful benevolent ghosts who if you left alone would not likely bother you, there were rare occurrences of more powerful ghosts who lusted for power and obedience would try to overwhelm the town and its inhabitance. Usually when this happened, the government would step in. Or more commonly, Danny Phantom. The boy, now young man, who took the country by storm after an accidental exposure to his parents ghost portal. This one event had forever changed the course of the world.

Diane had been never been very interested in the story of Danny Phantom. Even after the event of the asteroid (sorry, Disasteroid) she had only been mildly interested in the boy. She knew he was a few years older than her and was brought up in a small town. When he was 14 (when she was 11) he obtained ghost powers from an accident and then began to save the small town from their strange frequent ghost attacks. It wasn't until the Disasteroid that the boy began to be seen unanimously as a hero. Diane had read, in her copy of "Danny Phantom, the unofficial biography: our invisible hero" that for a long time the town and most of the country had thought Danny as a menace. Public enemy number 1. How one simple catastrophic event can change the minds and opinions of the collective population.

As for Diane, moving to Amity Park proved to be something that set her own life on a new course. She met Yasmin and Scott in her first week of moving as they lived next door to the Phillips. Diane's mother had died in a car crash when Diane was still quite young. She still remembered everything about that day though. Her father raised her the best he knew how, but Diane knew he was struggling financially. Moving to Amity Park made them much more financially secure but Diane could tell her father was struggling raising a teenage daughter. And Diane knew she didn't make it easy for him either. Blame the hormones.

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Diane now sat in her first period English class, reading the novel set by Mr Lancer at the beginning of the semester for the 3rd time. It wasn't a particularly good book, but Diane found herself reading it over and over again. She paused her reading and glanced around the room. Being the youngest in her class by a year, Diane found herself being the outsider. Not that she minded. She rather preferred it that way. English was her favourite and best class and she soon discovered that her peers didn't appreciate it when people are better at a particular thing than they are. Diane usually spent her time in class reading or catching up with other subjects. With that being said a tall boy with blond hair sat in his normal chair in front of her. He turned in his chair and tapped her open page.

"Whatcha reading?"

Diane closed her book with a sigh. She defiantly won't get any reading done now. She looked at him though half lidded eyes, forcing herself to look more bored than she was so that he would hopefully get the message and let her get back to her book. "The book we're all supposed to be reading. The one that Mr Lancer assigned us a few months ago."

Christian raised an eyebrow, a blank expression washing over his face. He picked up the cover side of the book, glancing at the cover followed by a panicked expression.

"Oh man, that book? I thought that was last years so I tossed it."

"Well that was stupid. Even for you."

Christian groaned and let his head fall on to her desk, his hair falling around it. Diane's first thought was that he needed a haircut. The second was of slight pity. She sighed and picked up her book, folding her pages corner and used it to tap him on the head. He raised his head and she held up her book to him.

"Here. You can borrow mine. I've already read it a few times. Besides, if I let you fail I'll never hear the end of it from the twins."

His brown eyes lit up with gratitude, accepting the book.

"Wow. Are you….being nice to me?"

"Weird huh? I'm in a good mood so use it while you can. You can thank me later by buying me a Nasty burger."

"Deal." He grinned and turned back to his desk, just as Mr Lancer entered. He spied Diane's completed essay and held it up to her, praising her silently. She smiled as the whole class, Christian included, groaned in realisation that the essay was in fact due that day.

"So much for your amazing memory, huh?" Diane leaned forward, whispering to Christian. He leant back and smirked at her. "It's more of a selective memory."

She raised and eyebrow and leant back to her own desk.

At first glance, Christian Reid was everything Diane hated in a guy. Good looking, football player and in with the popular crowd. Though it wasn't until Diane got to know him better than Diane realised he was a lot more complicated a person than he let on. True, he was considered popular. He however preferred to hangout with Diane's group rather than his fellow jocks. While Yasmin and Diane are best friends, Scott and Christian were best friends. He, like Scott, was a paranormal nut. Diane could recall countless times when the two would just go lengthy discussions on anything from ghosts, to werewolves, to aliens to even Leprechauns. Their little group seemed to fit together like the cogs of a well tuned clock. They all got along, though at times Christian and Diane butted heads but it was all in good humour. Christian and Yasmin had dated the year before, but it was a trial relationship. They found that they were much better friends than they were boyfriend and girlfriend. In fact, the only thing that they did differently than when they were just friends being together was hold hands and kiss. But even then it didn't feel like it was supposed to. When going back to being just friends proved to be very easy, they knew they had made the right decision. Scott and Diane got along too, but not to the point that they would ever consider dating. To them it was like dating a sibling. Their relationship was started by Yasmin, but they soon found out they had a lot in common. While Scott nor Diane were on the basketball team or otherwise, they enjoyed to play and played one on one games a lot. Diane, being quicker and more nimble, beat Scott most games, with Scott making a few miraculous victories over the years.

A sharp pain hit Diane half way though the lesson. The pain was central, located near her stomach. Most people would have been shocked at the sudden pain, but Diane merely focused all the pain into her fist, forcing herself to ignore it. It happened a lot lately. She knew what was causing it. But she couldn't have anyone find out about it. No. Never.

If Mr Lancer had been paying particular attention to each of his students he would have noticed Diane's face screw up for a moment before becoming unreadable. He would have also noticed Christian look back over his shoulder at the girl, concern crossing his face.

Class went quickly, but not quick enough for Diane, whose pain hadn't receded slightly over the time. She gasped as the picked up her books, another shock hitting her. Her books were sent flying by an unknown force hitting a classmate in the head. They glared at her. She gasped an apology and they walked out without saying a word. She fell back into her seat as the classroom began to empty.

"Diane. What's wrong?"

Diane looked up to see Mr Lancer hovering over her. She jumped up, grabbing her books and the ones that had fallen to the floor. She smiled, attempting to reassure her teacher and herself.

"Nothing's wrong. Just a bit tired."  
"Well, you teenagers do need your sleep. But at least you're not catching Z's in my class."

"Well your class is my favourite. I'd never dream about sleeping in yours."

Mr Lancer smiled, patting her on the shoulder. "That's my best student. Now off to class with you."

She smiled gratefully and walked out of the class, pushing back her reaction to double over in pain. She'd barely passed out the door when Christian pulled her to the side. Her stomach pain seised immediately. She glared at him and pulled her arm out of his grip.

"You gonna tell me what that was about?"

"Excuse me?"

"Don't play dumb. I saw you. What's wrong? Are you in pain or something?" Christian reached out for her hand but she jumped back as if he'd scald her with his touch.

"I'm fine, alright. Just get off my back." She ran to her next class without even glancing back at Christian's hurt face.

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_That was chapter 1! Constructive criticism is welcome. Although there aren't any canon characters appearing early on (besides Lancer) there will be more main characters appearing later on. Although this is a story based on an original character, I've tried hard to keep it true to the show. Please, no trolling saying Diane's a sue. I can assure you that she isn't. Second chapter is already written but won't be up for a while until after I finish the next few chapter, so if you liked this, tell me!_


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